


The scar

by Sophia73



Series: Relationships [1]
Category: zutara - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25793518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophia73/pseuds/Sophia73
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Relationships [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871185
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	The scar

The scar  
By Sophia  
Prompt from Zutararights on Tumblr

Summary: Zuko tells the Katara how he got the scar and why he did the things he did. Set in season 3

Katara-  
I was making dinner one night when I felt that someone was there.  
“Who's there?” Zuko stepped into the kitchen. I didn’t trust him, after he turned on me in Ba Sing Se I couldn’t trust him.   
“Sorry, everyone just wanted to know when the food would be ready”   
“Well it’ll be out in 5 minutes.” I said and turned back to the food, I heard his footsteps walk away. I didn’t trust him but that doesn't mean that I don’t have questions. His scar, back in the cave he said ‘it was the mark of the banished prince’ but he never said how or who he got it from. I walked out and handed out the food.  
“It’s about time sis” Sokka took his and started to eat. By the time I sat down almost half of his was gone, and I filled his up the most.  
“Well next time cook yourself” I sat down with Toph and Haru, I couldn’t deal with my brother anymore.  
“Is there anymore?” He asked, he did just finish his food, he’s a pig.  
“You can have mine, I am going to go work on my water bending” I said and handed him my food, he took it and started to eat it until dad took it away from him.  
“No Katara you need food to”   
“I’m fine, and he takes my food all the time” 90% of the time I would eat half my food and give the rest to Sokka, just to make him shut up.  
“You need food, you didn’t eat lunch, you need to eat dinner” He still treats me like a 5 year old.  
“I’m fine, just give Sokka my food and leave me alone”   
“Fine, but your mother wouldn’t be happy” Then all the water in the room(which was a lot) turned to ice and headed straight for his face, but Aang stopped it.  
“Katara, you can’t kill your own father,” Aang said, returning the water to where it belonged.  
“I can and I will, if he keeps treating me like a 5 year old” I left and headed down to a small waterfall.

Zuko-

Once Katara left everyone looked over at Hakoda. His daughter almost killed him, well now I just have to be extra careful, her telling him she would kill him was very real. Sokka took Katara’s bowl out of his father's hand and finished the food. That boy could eat more than uncle, and that was a lot.  
“Sokka you can’t just always take your sisters food, she also needs to eat.” Hakoda said, clearly not happy with his son, but didn’t show any true hate. How a good father was towards his kids.  
“Well she gives it to me” Sokka had finished her food and was now snacking on whatever dried food Katara had left in her bag.  
“Do you ever wonder why?”   
“She loves me and wants to be a good sister” Really was what Sokka thought, no wonder Katara will do whatever to make him stop complaining.   
“No, she wants you to shut up, even I know that” The Duke said from across the circle.  
“He’s right Sokka, I still feel sorry for having to deal with you for her whole life. And even more so after your mom died” Toph added.  
“It’s kind of Katara’s fault she's dead. The navy was looking for a water bender, Katara. But mom faked the fact that she was the last water bender, so they killed her” Zuko knew that had to have been why Kya died.  
“Would you have preferred Katara die and then there would no longer be any southern water benders and Aang would still be in the ice, and none of us would be here?” Haru asked a good question, without Katara none of them would be here. Katara was the one that found Aang and she was the one that started this whole thing. None of them would have thought that there was a way to end the war if it wasn’t for her.  
“No, but she was being careless when it came to using her magic”  
“It’s not magic!” shouted all the other benders in the room, even Aang who Zuko had thought would never hurt or shout or be mean to anyone.  
“Whatever” He was done with the first bag of whatever Katara had and was going through the rest of her bag, but that Toph used whatever metal was in Katara’s bag and tied him up.  
“Well, someone has to find Sugar Queen, so Sparky go”   
“Why me?” Out of everyone why him? Katara hates him.  
“You stand a chance if she wants a fight, and don’t tell her that I broke her bracelet.”  
“Aang stands a chance” I said Aang was the hecking avatar  
“Yeah but Katara doesn’t have to take care of you, it would be easier for her to talk with you over anyone else right now.”  
“What about Suki?” Suki had just joined, and helped out with dishes and laundry when she could, so Katara never had to take care of her.  
“Yeah but she’s mad at her dad and brother so having her brother's girlfriend talk to her would be a bad idea. So off you go” And I was gone, unlike when I was tracking Aang I didn’t have a clue where she would be. He knew her room was the farest from everyone else, but never actually knew where it was. She always stayed up later than everyone else, and when he was up he had to go find Aang and work on fire bending so when they were done she was up and had food made. So he just walked around till he heard water. Yes water that must be where a water bender runs off to. He followed the sound until he saw a waterfall, it wasn’t very big but still was very nice, he looked around and saw where Katara must have been staying, not in the temple but in a room right outside it. Behind the waterfall was a door and window to a room, and there sitting on her bed was Katara.  
“Hey I know you don’t want to see me but, Toph made me find you” She looked up but didn’t seem to care.  
“It’s fine, I just don’t want to see any of my family. Did Toph break any of my things?” How did she know?  
“Umm yes, a metal bracelet, don’t tell her I told you.” She laughed. She laughed, she wasn’t mad?   
“Well knowing Toph she would have broken at least something, I love her but sometimes she's too much”  
“Well Sokka blames you for her death, and Hakoda doesn't seem sorry for how he treated you”   
“Tell me something I didn’t know” How did she know?   
“How did you know? And are you not a bit mad about Sokka blaming you?”  
“No, I still sometimes blame myself. I know they were looking for me, and it’s not the first time my dad treats me like a 5 year old. I know he only does it cause he loves me but it’s annoying.” I was jealous of the relationship Katara had with her brother and father, they did all love each other, but have different ways of showing it.   
“Well must be nice to have someone love you” I said under my breath, but she still heard. That girl has some super hearing or something.  
“What do you mean? Iroh must love you, he was always with you.”  
“Yes but he’s gone I don’t know where he is. Unlike you my sister wants to kill me, my father is also looking to kill me. Giving me the scar was nothing”  
“So that's who gave it to you. Can you tell me the full story?” She didn’t seem to hate me any more, she sounded like she actually cared. This was not new, she was the same in Ba Sing Se, but now even after what happened she was willing to listen and cared.  
“Fine, but you don’t tell anyone, I’ll tell them myself if I want.” She nodded and sat up, I pulled up a chair and sat down facing her. “So when I was 11 I wanted to go into the war meeting and my uncle let me but told me to hold my tongue. One of the generals was going to have a group of new recruits go into the line of fire, so killing them, so that a small group of older soldiers could have a clear shot. I couldn’t stay quite anymore and spoke up saying that was wrong and my father told me that by disrespecting him in the war room it meant agni kai. I fire dual, where in order to win you either have to kill or burn your opponent, I misunderstood what he meant so I said yes. Later when I was in the arena I wasn’t going to fight the old generals, it was my father. I didn’t want to fight him so I begged for him to forgive me, but instead he burned my face, and banished me. The only way I was to return ‘home’ was if I had the avatar.” I looked at her, she just looked at me with an unreadable look.  
“It makes sense why you followed us everywhere now. That's just mean. But what if you looked at your scar as something that shows how much you’ve changed.”   
“It’s not that easy, but now you know why seeing you with Sokka and your dad hurts me.” she must have heard someone at the door cause she just randomly pulled the water from the air and froze the door.  
“It’s me, let me in before I metal bend you to the floor” how long was Toph outside for? Did she hear the story? Katara dropped the water and Toph came and sat on Katara’s bed. “So I didn’t hear what you were talking about, so fill me in”  
“No thanks, what are you doing here? If you're here to tell me Sokka wants to say sorry, or that my dad feels bad you can leave.”   
“Well that's part of the reason, but you two were talking for a long time so I was sent to make sure you're both still alive.” They really thought that Katara or I would be dead? They have no faith.  
“Well if that's all you can leave, the moons full so don’t even try to hide.” She pushed Toph off the bed and out the door, Toph didn’t fight back. Toph must have known that tonight under the full moon she didn’t stand much of a chance. When she was gone Katara came back and sat down.  
“So you want to go now?” She asked  
“I don’t really want to listen to your dad and brother argue, and why did you pick this room, it's so far away from everyone.” Everyone else had their room on the other side of the temple, so why did she want to stay here. Let alone how did she find this place.  
“I think you know that I sleep late, so staying close to everyone, but mainly Toph would keep them awake too. So in order to not have to fight Toph everyday I found a room away from everyone, and only you, Suki, and Toph know where I stay, most just assume I stay in another part of the actual temple. Before Toph and I made sure that we were set up as far away from each other as we could, so when we came here I made sure it was the same thing.” That made sense Katara drew power from the moon, so she stayed up really late, and if she was walking around or moving Toph could sense it. That would drive Toph mad, if she wasn’t already.  
“Okay I get that but how did you find this place, I got lost trying to find you”  
“Well I sensed the waterfall, the temple doesn’t have many water sources so a waterfall was easy to sense. So I just came here and found this room, and then from then on I just stayed here. Well if you want to have any energy for training Aang you should find your way back. Or do you want me to just lead you back?” her voice was no longer as threatening as when he came, but also wasn’t as warm and kind as in Ba Sing Se. But this was better so he would just have to get us to it, there was no way she was going to trust him anymore, so as long as she didn’t want to kill him he’ll be fine.  
“Okay, lets go” I stood up and offered to help her up, to my surprise she let me.   
“Lets go, and I don’t trust you but I no longer hate you” Well that answered my question, she led me out to the main area, no one was out, it was almost midnight so it makes sense, then she left. I headed to my room, my room was at the very end of the hall, so I passed everyone else’s room, but even though they weren’t in the main area all their rooms were empty. It was weird they always went to sleep as soon as they could. I walked into my room and there sitting on the ground was everyone.   
“Hey everyone. What are you doing here?”   
“Well you were gone too long for it to have just been a short talk with Katara so what did you do?” Hakoda asked, Haru, Teo and The Duke all seemed to want to go back to sleep. I understand Sokka and Hakoda coming into my room, but why did they bring everyone?  
“We talked about my past. I didn’t do anything to her.” What kind of a person did they think I was?   
“Okay then that's all you did you can tell the rest of us what you were talking about.” Sokka said looking me dead in the eyes. Even though Sokka seemed to need the most sleep out of everyone, he was the most awake.  
“That's none of your business. It's my past I don’t need to tell anyone if I don’t want to” I was not about to tell them I told Katara and I didn’t really want to, so I am not going to tell everyone else.  
“So why did you tell Katara?” Sokka was too over protective for his own good.  
“I told her because I owed her. And if you don’t care about my boundaries I’ll be on my way.” I wanted to sleep, so I was not going to play nice right now.  
“Well where would you go? Your family wants to kill you and you don’t know where your uncle is, so where would you go?” Sokka made a point I was safer with them, and I was not about to fight them, but I wanted space, where would I go? Katara, her room was so hard to find I could run off and stay there. But if it was morning I could but unlike her I needed sleep, but that was still my best choice.   
“Well if you won’t let me sleep I will be going for a walk. Good night.” I turned and left. I hoped that Katara wouldn’t kill me for me asking to stay there and not have to deal with her over protective brother. I still had issues finding her room and never ended up finding it, but finding Katara herself.   
“What are you still doing up? I thought I was the only water bender here.” She turned around and smiled at me. A kind sweet smile, the same one that she gave to everyone else.  
“Your brother won't leave me alone, so can I stay with you. I can not deal with him right now, or ever.” She laughed, it was hard to believe that this was the same girl that said she would kill me.  
“Sure, lets go” She led me to her room but she took a different route. How well hidden was this room? “So tell me what Sokka did that I need to hit him for?” she did seem to trust that I would tell her the truth.  
“You said before that you still didn’t trust me, but you seem to be trusting me that I won't lie to you”   
“Well, I thought about your story and what you said in Ba Sing Se and realized that you were just a pawn in your father's game, and it is also the full moon and right now it's midnight the height of the full moon so don’t try to lie. I can tell” So she could also be a human lie detector like Toph, spirits those two girls are so strong.  
“Well I went to my room to find everyone just sitting on the ground, and your dad asked what we did that took so long. And I said we talked and Sokka wanted me to tell them what we talked about, and like I told you I would tell them when I was ready, unlike you most of them won’t wait and listen to the full story before talking over me and giving their point of view. I told him I wasn’t ready and that they had to respect my boundaries but Sokka asked again and I had to leave before I killed him so I just left and knew you would still be up and your room is impossible to find. Suki and Toph both seemed too tired to want to help Sokka find me or care where I went, and you said that they were the only others to know where you are, so I thought it was safer to come here than risk killing someone.”  
“Well you can stay as long as you want I am just going to go and lock Sokka in a room and I’ll be back, you can sleep on the bed, I don’t care.” Wow, she really had two sides of her, she didn’t care if I slept on her bed. Where would she sleep… Oh that's why she was going to make sure Sokka wouldn’t find us. I went and laid down on her bed and closed my eyes and fell asleep. I didn’t notice her come in and lie down on the other side. I had nightmares of my agni kai and woke up not long after I feel asleep in a sense of panic.  
"What's wrong?" Katara who must have just walked in asked  
"Just nightmares"  
"Want to talk about them?" She was so kind  
"Fine it was just about my agni kai."  
"Oh"  
"nothing new"  
"You have them often?"  
"Yes" She came and sat down on the other side of the bed  
"Well, why do you think you still get them?"  
"I don't follow."  
"Well if you know why you get them you can find a way to get rid of them"  
"Well I have always wanted my fathers love after my mom left. I wanted someone to care and believe in me again."  
"What about your uncle? he must have cared"  
"He did but I realized to late."  
"Well there are still people who believe in you, and you should believe in yourself to."  
"I do most of the time. Tell me who still believes in me" I wanted to know who still had hope for me.  
"Well Aang does,-"  
"He sees the best in everyone,"  
"Let me finish, Aang does, Suki said she does, same with Toph and same with.. me"  
"How? After Ba Sing Se-"  
"I said this earlier you were just a pawn in someone else's game, you still can change and grow and learn. I can't say the same for your sister and father" I pulled her in a tight hug  
"Thank you, that means a lot." She returned the hug  
"Your welcome, now go to sleep, Aang still has training to do" I let go and we both went to sleep, this time I didn't have the nightmares. Katara was asleep right beside me, not on the other side of the bed like I thought she would be. It was nice, maybe she was right, I could learn and grow.


End file.
